The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

“Lini, since you will be here, and I will be staying some time as well, may I have a few minutes with Dave alone? There are some important things I must tell him.”

  “Okay. I’ll just go to the house for dinner. Will I see you there?”

  “Yes, dear. I will only need a few minutes with Dave. You might want to say your goodbye now, as the Hive on Tak-Makla is ready to take him back on my signal.”

  “So soon!” she exclaimed as tears poured out of her eyes. “I thought we would have more time.” She threw her arms around Dave and hugged him again.

  “Don’t worry, dear,” Odo noted. “With Eon around, Dave will never be further than a thought away. I guarantee that.”

  “You be good, Lini, and know that I will always love you,” Dave said as he kissed her cheeks. She was too distraught to talk, so she released him from the bear-hug and ran toward the house.

  “She’s a good girl, Dave,” Odo said. “I will make sure she is fine here. Frankly, I’m surprised you’d let her go.”

  “Odo, Lini deserves a miraculous life, full of love and success. In the fleet, not even success is assured. Besides, she made the choice and who am I to stop her from her dreams?”

  “The man she loves,” Odo replied. “Anyway, it was the right decision. Eon needs her and our galaxy needs you. If ever it becomes more important for her to be with you, I will bring her myself.”

  “Thank you, Odo.”

  Odo led Dave back to the small bench and they sat. “Dave, what I’m about to tell you will be difficult for you to accept, but you need to know.”

  “Please tell me.”

  “I will not be returning to Zulanan,” he said. Dave was shocked and the color drained out of his face. “Life without Ila would be too depressing to take. All the memories would poison my work, which never seems to end.”

  “Quit then, Odo,” Dave argued. “You’re nine thousand years old. You deserve to enjoy the years you have left.”

  Odo raised one eyebrow and a smirk crossed his face. “It’s not that easy, Dave.” Dave stood up as if startled by gunfire and his mouth moved up and down without a sound for a minute. “Go ahead and say what you’re thinking.”

  “You are Bandopaz Niderak!” Dave shouted.

  “Not so loud, Dave,” Odo winced. “This is between you and me; well, and I guess Lini, Eon, Mantarcus and Vanda will find out when I join them for dinner. But it’s still not that simple.”

  Dave sat heavily and sighed. “I’m so confused.”

  “It is true that I was born on Fistnan and my birth name is Bandopaz Niderak, but that was so long ago, only a few years after the Nan first arrived on that planet. The Nan on that planet were very spiritual and they accepted that a very good man could live for many generations due to his virtue. After some time, people began to seek me out to fix their lives and give them riches. I was losing my virtue. I tried to escape into the deserts or mountain tops, but they kept looking for me to do the work for them. I felt myself losing my love for mankind and wondered if I was destined to run and hide for eternity. Finally, I decided to end my life. I climbed up a tall mountain, where one side was a sheer cliff. Hundreds followed me, trying to convince me to stop and go back to helping them. As I stood at the edge, I looked back and could see lines of people rushing up the mountain. People were pushing and shoving others out of the way to get to me first. I could feel the loathing for them growing in my belly, even though I knew that feeling was wrong. I struggled to clear my mind, and when my thoughts stopped, I closed my eyes and stepped off the cliff.”

  “Of course, you survived,” Dave said.

  Odo gave him an angry smirk. “Yes, Dave. Here I am after all. I felt myself falling for a long time. I thought my body would smash against the rocks any second. Then I felt myself standing again and opened my eyes. I was standing at the base of the cliff. I didn’t understand for a long time, but I had transcended. The people thought I died, so they stopped looking for me. I learned to change my appearance and age. I changed my name a thousand times, and no one knew who I was. Being the man I was, I still spent my time helping people, which may have been my mistake, but what is a man to do? You can’t change who you are! Finally, people realized I must be the same Bandopaz Niderak from ancient history. The elders began to write tales of the transcendent man. That’s when I left Fistnan forever.”

  “And now you’ve spent all that time traveling the universe helping other civilizations. You stay on one planet until they start getting crazy, and then you go to the next,” Dave guessed.

  “That was true for a long time, until I fell in love.”

  “With Ila.”

  “No, Dave. It was long before that,” Odo corrected him. “But she is an excellent example. I started loving and marrying women on the planets I visited. Each lived much longer than typical people on their planets. I think that has something to do with my state. Each of the transcendent Beings is like a miniature Hive, if you will. But they were still flesh and blood. After each died, I tried to stay, but the pain was too much to bear. I had to escape my sorrow.”

  “I’m so sorry, Odo.”

  “Don’t ever feel sorry for me, Dave Brewster!” Odo snapped. “I have been given the greatest gift any man could receive. It is my honor and privilege to repay that gift by helping as many people as I can. If I have to deal with my personal grief from time to time, then that is the price for my gift.”

  “So, what will you do now?” Dave asked.

  “As I told Lini, I will stay with my fellow transcendent men for a while and help them realize their potential. I have asked Obu Neela to talk to my family and explain how my grief was too great to bear. At some point, they will assume I passed away.”

  “Pardon my ignorance, but that sounds terrible.”

  “Dave, if I stay on Nan, eventually all of my children out to a million generations will pass away in front of me. Now, they will know my love for them and their mother, and will get on with their lives. Perhaps I can help you understand a bit.”

  “Please do.”

  “Dave, you came from the twenty-first century, right?” He nodded. “Well then, everyone you knew and ten generations beyond them have been dead for a thousand years. You and your family made a conscious decision to travel in time so you could be here with me right now. I never had that chance. Vanda could have run me through his liquefiers a billion times, and I would still be here.” Odo chuckled. “Dave, you and I are on a great adventure together. I will still be here with you for the rest of your life, although I’ll have to come up with a new name. Nothing else will change, I promise that.”

  “Thank you for sharing your secret, Bandopaz,” Dave said as he hugged him. “You are an amazing man, and it continues to be my honor to know you.”

  “So, you forgive me for abandoning my family?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. I love you, Odo, and thank you for being my friend.”

  “Until the end of time, Dave Brewster. Until the end of time.”

  ###

  Thanks so much for reading The Complete Dave Brewster Collection. I really hope you enjoyed it and are wondering what else I have been up to. In fact, to help you decide, let me offer you a reward:

  First of all, if you join the Adventurers Club, I will send you any one of my individual e-books free of charge! Click here to join! After you sign up, just send an e-mail to karl@karljmorgan.com and let me know which book you want and the format (for Kindle or other reader). I will send the e-book file by return e-mail. What a deal, right? I promise I will not spam you and you’ll also be the first to hear about new books and special deals. I want to connect with you and learn what you like and dislike.

  Finally, whew, I bet you’re glad to hear that, you are welcome to check out my website, my author page on Amazon, and connect with me on Facebook and/or Twitter. That’s it! Thanks again.

  Back to Top

  About the Author

  Karl J. Morgan

  Karl Morgan grew up fascinated by scienc
e fiction, beginning with Victor Appleton’s Tom Swift novels that he read as a young boy. Later, he became enthralled with the works of his favorite author, Isaac Asimov, especially his Foundation series.

  Those early experiences inspired his life-long love of science fiction and interest in hard science, focusing first on astronomy and later cosmology and quantum mechanics. Karl had the great honor to take his first astronomy course at the University of Iowa from the legendary scientist, Dr. James Van Allen. More recently, the brilliant works of Drs. Stephen Hawking, Brian Greene, and Michio Kaku helped him understand that our physical universe is still a magical and mysterious place.

  It is that sense of magic and mystery that brings Karl to write about his alter ego, Dave Brewster, an unemployed accountant who finds himself a thousand years in the future with new friends and adventures far beyond anything he could have imagined. There, he can find answers to questions that befuddle mankind today. The truth he finds is no different from what we know today. Life is always about loving and caring for our family and friends.

  Karl lives in San Diego with his wife, Aida, and their beloved puppies. Their two grown children have fled the nest and started their own adventures in life.

  Back to top

  Other Books By Karl J. Morgan

  Remembrances: Choose to Be Happy and Embrace the Possibilities

  The Heartstone Series

  Sentinels of Far Sun (Book 1)

  The Time Walker (Book 2)

  Modern Prophet Series

  The Two Doors (Book 1)

  The Reluctant Prophet: A Love Story (Book 2)

  Hand of God (Book 3)

  Demonic (Book 4, coming soon)

  Back to top